Now that we’re in the new year, what can we expect for the trucking industry?

The trucking industry has seen many changes in the past few years. Everything from the high cost of fuel to shortages of drivers has been creating new challenges for many trucking companies large and small. So, what do the experts see for the trucking industry in the coming year?

Almost all the experts agree that the driver shortage will continue. Some fleets are starting to put other kinds of incentives beyond signing bonuses in place. Some new incentives will now be on the table. More things like mileage bonuses, longevity bonuses, safety bonuses and other performance-based incentives rewarding different aspects of the driver’s activity will be added to the list of driver perks.

In an effort to address the driver shortage, there will be a major push and significant investment in things relayed to driver recruitment, employee communication and assimilation. As the focus becomes more on keeping drivers once they’re hired, more resources will be deployed to see that once hired, drivers stick around.

Industry experts believe that there will be a softening of used truck values in 2019. While used truck values have remained high because of lack of availability of new trucks things are about to change according to the experts.

As technology continues to improve, so will the development of electric vehicles, including trucks. Although many experts predict that we will see great strides made in the development of electric vehicles, no one expects to see them in on the road in great numbers just yet. Because most of the trucking industry turn their assets over on a three, four- or five-year replacement cycle, any type of mass conversion to electric vehicles is still quite a way off.

It is difficult to tell what we can expect with any degree of certainty and even the experts are often wrong. As the year progresses, we will see how much of this actually comes about.